The Modern will include 900 luxury rental apartments in two 47-story glass towers on eight acres near the entrance to the George Washington Bridge. Fort Lee Redevelopment Associates is a partnership of real estate developer SJP Residential Properties, Bergen County attorney James Demetrakis and real estate investment firm Palisades Financial.

The ground breaking marks the culmination of a long and storied history at the site, which has sat vacant since the late 1970s. It was the subject of a federal investigation 40 years ago when Fort Lee’s then mayor Burt Ross tipped off the Federal Bureau Investigation that he’d been offered a bribe by corrupt developers with links to the mob in return for approving plans for a controversial skyscraper at the site. Ross agreed to don a wire and later helped the authorities bust the developers.

The new development, slated for completion in 2014, will feature studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments

Nothing special about these towers architecturally, but they will be the tallest buildings in Fort Lee and in the entire Bergen County. They still be the second tallest structures in that county, behind the George Washington Bridge's west tower, (184 meters) but they will be about 55 taller than the bridge when added the 90 meters of elevation of the terrain in where the towers stand, so the top of the towers will be some 240 meters above the Hudson.
I was going to ask what theyare going to do in the western plot, but I already found that out in a couple of links of the article. It is a development called Hudson Lights

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The developer is seeking approvals for Hudson Lights at Fort Lee, which would include some 165,000 square feet of retail, 477 residential units, a 175-room hotel and parking for about 1,175 cars. The Fort Lee planning board in March approved plans for the eastern half of the project, which includes two 47-story residential towers — the tallest structures in Bergen County — in addition to a restaurant, museum, movie theater and park. The eastern half is being developed by Fort Lee Redevelopment Associates. Together, the projects — Fort Lee’s largest redevelopment effort to date — would add 1,379 residential units and more than 187,000 square feet of commercial space to the borough. If the Hudson Lights portion is approved, construction could begin as early as this summer, the developer said.

There is also a construction site in the eastern side, that can be seen in the latest update of GE from march of this year. Does somebody knows what is that?

Another question, how well is this area served by transit? considering is just across the river from Manhattan, with the bridge literally at the foot of these towers.
I guess that the huge parking lot that we can see at the bottom of the picture (in the western side of the developments) is a commuter parking lot where people switch to buses to enter Manhattan? (in GE says it is the PANYNJ)

An eight-acre lot in Fort Lee, N.J., once owned by Harry Helmsley, is slated to soon become a large mixed-use development after four decades of failed plans.

Tucker Development Corp., Ares Management and Kushner Real Estate Group have secured financing for the first phase of Hudson Lights, which will include 143,000 square feet of retail, 276 luxury rental apartments and 864 parking spots.

Sovereign Bank, a unit of Banco Santander SA, SAN.MC +0.03% is supplying a $117 million construction loan, and the developers will provide equity for the rest of the $218 million budget for the first phase of the project. A groundbreaking will be announced soon, and construction is expected to take around 22 months, said Richard Tucker, chief executive of Highland Park, Ill.-based Tucker Development.

Phase two of the project, which could break ground by next year, is slated to include a hotel, more retail space and an additional 200 residential units. Tucker Development also has the option of including an office building, but Mr. Tucker said that would only happen if an anchor tenant was secured before construction began.

As they move through Fort Lee, eastbound drivers approaching the George Washington Bridge just before sundown can’t help but bathe uncomfortably in the intense glow of the dazzling glass tower that’s slowly reaching into the sky.

The 47-story luxury high-rise — called The Modern — is being billed as a huge attraction for the little borough by the Hudson, but the blinding glare has made some Manhattan-bound motorists look away and scream.

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September gripes about this phenomenon are hardly unusual, but late-afternoon gripers normally are heading west into the sun, not east into Manhattan. Besides offering 450 luxury rental apartments and spectacular views of New York City, The Modern manages to reverse this dynamic by bouncing the sun’s rays into the eyes of eastbound drivers.

The Park Ridge reader said the glare was so strong that neither his polarized sunglasses nor his windshield visor could block it.

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But none of the reflected sunlight from The Modern in Fort Lee approaches the hideous intensity of the Walkie Talkie in London, where the sun in early fall beats directly on the building for two hours or more. The glare from the high-rise on the Jersey side of the Hudson generally lasts several minutes at most.

And unlike the enormous engineering challenges posed by the Walkie Talkie, the Fort Lee mayor believes The Modern may one day elude the sun’s rays altogether.

"This is only the first building being built for this project," Sokolich noted. "There’s more to come, so I think the sun won’t get through."

And the other mega project across the street from this one Hudson Lights, has just broke ground

Retail, luxury development to rise on Fort Lee lot that sat empty 50 years

Earth movers and tractors were pushing dirt around Wednesday at a lot that had sat undeveloped for almost 50 years.

Tucker Development plans to to construct 1 million square feet of retail, luxury apartments and parking at the parcel bordered by Main Street, Martha Washington Way, Bruce Reynolds Boulevard and Central Road.

“This has taken a little bit of time,” Richard Tucker, CEO of Tucker Development, said at the official groundbreaking for Hudson Lights, drawing laughs.

Developers have been trying to make something of the lot for almost all of 50-year-old Mayor Mark Sokolich’s life. Today, a half-built 48-story glass building looms over the site, with a sister building to go up soon after, part of the Modern, one of the other large developments coming to Fort Lee.

The first phase of the Hudson Lights development will join the towers soon. It will make Fort Lee a shopping destination, Sokolich said, and continue what the mayor called the Borough’s “renaissance.”

Quote:

He also did not give a time frame for phase two of the project, which would include a hotel and more residences and retail space.

he first shovel of dirt was dug for a new one million square feet community in Fort Lee, NJ, yesterday (Wednesday).

Tucker Development and Kushner Real Estate Group were joined by Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich and officials from Ares Management and general contractor Tishman Construction to break ground on the project and introduce its lead tenant.

State-of-the-art movie theater iPic will build an eight-screen, 533-seat luxury cinema and its dining concept, Tanzy, as part of the development’s first phase.

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Called Hudson Lights, Phase 1 of the development near the entrance to the George Washington Bridge will have 517,000 s/f of commercial and residential space. Some 143,000 s/f will be occupied by retail and 276 luxury apartments will be built in towers that will include a pool, lounge, fitness center, rooftop terrace and gardens. The development’s first phase will also include 864 parking stalls.

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The fully entitled second phase of Hudson Lights is approved to include an additional 201 residential units, approximately 50,000 s/f of retail space and parking, as well as a 175-room hotel.

The zoning also affords the development the option for an office building of up to 430,000 s/f.

Demolition and clearing of the site have commenced. Completion of the project’s first construction phase is scheduled for summer 2015.